Observed and projected climate change in Taiwan |
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Authors: | H-H Hsu C-T Chen |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Atmospheric Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, TW;(2) Department of Earth Sciences, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan, TW |
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Abstract: | Summary
This study examined the secular climate change characteristics in Taiwan over the past 100 years and the relationship with
the global climate change. Estimates for the likelihood of future climate changes in Taiwan were made based on the projection
from the IPCC climate models.
In the past 100 years, Taiwan experienced an island-wide warming trend (1.0–1.4 °C/100 years). Both the annual and daily temperature
ranges have also increased. The warming in Taiwan is closely connected to a large-scale circulation and SAT fluctuations,
such as the “cool ocean warm land” phenomenon. The water vapor pressure has increased significantly and could have resulted
in a larger temperature increase in summer. The probability for the occurrence of high temperatures has increased and the
result suggests that both the mean and variance in the SAT in Taiwan have changed significantly since the beginning of the
20th century. Although, as a whole, the precipitation in Taiwan has shown a tendency to increase in northern Taiwan and to
decrease in southern Taiwan in the past 100 years, it exhibits a more complicated spatial pattern. The changes occur mainly
in either the dry or rainy season and result in an enhanced seasonal cycle. The changes in temperature and precipitation are
consistent with the weakening of the East Asian monsoon.
Under consideration of both the warming effect from greenhouse gases and the cooling effect from aerosols, all projections
from climate models indicated a warmer climate near Taiwan in the future. The projected increase in the area-mean temperature
near Taiwan ranged from 0.9–2.7 °C relative to the 1961–1990 averaged temperature, when the CO2 concentration increased to 1.9 times the 1961–1990 level. These simulated temperature increases were statistically significant
and can be attributed to the radiative forcing associated with the increased concentration of greenhouse gases and aerosols.
The projected changes in precipitation were within the range of natural variability for all five models. There is no evidence
supporting the possibility of precipitation changes near Taiwan based on the simulations from five IPCC climate models.
Received February 5, 2001 Revised July 30, 2001 |
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